Subject:
Religious Education

Keywords:
Rites of Passage, Commitment, Faith,

Resources:
Journey through life worksheet, The Many Paths of Christianity by Thompson & Thompson, Video of Baptisms (e.g. Believe it or not)

Year Group:
10

Values:
Faith in Christ

Teaching and Learning Styles:
Discussion, brainstorm, learning from and about religion, video

Context in which the lesson is set

Introducing the new topic of Christian rites of passage as part of Year 10 GCSE SEG

What the lesson is about

To introduce the pupils to Christian rites of passage and examine how commitment via faith is a prerequisite.

Expected outcomes

Pupils should understand what rites of passage are and recognise the impact of such rites on the lives of those who undertake them.

If pupils are religious, the lessons aim develops itself, as pupils include religious rites on their own journey through life. Pupils should be given the opportunity to discuss implications of faith and commitment.

Details of Teacher and Pupil Activities

The teacher should conduct a brainstorm of the word commitment with the pupils and consider what it means to be committed to something or someone.

Pupils should complete "Journey through life" worksheet. This asks pupils to mark on the worksheet their journey through life so far and look ahead to the future based on events that require commitment.

The teacher should conduct a whole class discussion on chosen events and compare events raised by pupils to Christian rites of passage. How many overlapped? If pupils are prepared to discuss why baptism, marriage etc. are important on their own personal journey allow time to let them explain why.

The pupils should then choose two examples from their personal journey and explain why it required commitment and the problems they were or could be faced with.

Following discussion on the written work above, the teacher should introduce the rite of Christian baptism. For SEG GCSE RE pupils need to understand the views and opinions of different denominations and traditions.

The teacher could show a Church of England baptism, followed by a believers baptism from the Believe it or Not video series to introduce these differences. The following pages in Thompson and Thompson are also useful pg22, pg47, pg70.

Extension Work

Further lessons on rites of passage.